Defence of ex-head of Ingush MIA is against consideration of the case without jurymen

The advocates of the ex-minister of interior of Ingushetia Ruslan Meiriev and of the former head of the Nazran ROVD (District Interior Division) Ali Yandiev, accused of negligence, have appealed against the ruling of the Supreme Court of the republic to transfer the case to the Magas District Court.

Meiriev and Yandiev were dismissed from their posts after the terror act committed on August 17, 2009, in the city of Nazran, where about 200 persons suffered.

"In accordance with the indictment, Ruslan Meiriev and Ali Yandiev, while being aware in advance that members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) were preparing a terror act with use of a car, failed to fulfil direct instructions of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Russia to ensure security of the building of the Nazran ROVD," runs the message posted on the website of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ingushetia.

Both defendants had petitioned about consideration of their case by a panel of jurymen; however, on February 18, the Supreme Court of Ingushetia, after considering the petitions of the parties, made a decision to send the case to the Magas District Court. Jurymen cannot take part in the trials held at district courts.

According to Sherip Tepsaev, Yandiev's advocate, he lodged his appeal complaint to the Panel on Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of Ingushetia on February 28, while his colleague Ruslan Bekov, who is defending Meiriev, did it a day earlier.